Hate speech laws in France
The hate speech laws in France are matters of both
Blasphemy
France abolished the offence of blasphemy in 1791; but the offence persisted in the regions of Alsace and Moselle as Articles 166 and 167 of the local penal code until 2016. The articles persisted as a holdover from the German criminal code of 1871. Validated by La loi du 17 Octobre 1919 and le Décret du 25 Novembre 1919, the articles forbade public blasphemy against God. No convictions under Articles 166 and 167 were registered.[1]
Freedom of the press
The Law on the Freedom of the Press of 29 July 1881 guarantees freedom of the press, subject to several prohibitions. Article 24 prohibits anyone from publicly inciting another to discriminate against, or to hate or to harm, a person or a group for belonging or not belonging, in fact or in fancy, to an ethnicity, a nation, a race, a religion, a sex, or a sexual orientation, or for having a handicap. The penalty for violating this prohibition is up to a year of imprisonment and a fine of up to €45,000, or either one of those, as well as the suspension of some civil rights in some cases.
Articles 32 and 33 prohibit anyone from publicly defaming or insulting a person or group for belonging or not belonging, in fact or in fancy, to an ethnicity, a nation, a race, a religion, a sex, or a sexual orientation, or for having a handicap. The penalty for defamation is up to a year of imprisonment and a fine of up to €45,000, or either one of those punishments. The penalty for insult is up to six months of imprisonment and a fine of up to €22,500, or either one of those punishments.
La loi du 29 juillet 1881 allows the public prosecutor to initiate criminal proceedings against a violator of the law either upon the complaint of a victim or upon his own initiative. A victim may choose to undertake a
Holocaust
Act 90-615 of 13 July 1990 or the
Penal code
The non-public insult of a person or a group of people because of their origin or their membership or their non-membership, true or supposed, to an ethnic group, a nation, sexual identity, gender identity, disability, a race or a specific religion is punishable by a fine of €500, or up to €3000 for a repeat offence.[2]
Other fields of law
By legislation adopted in 1972, France may ban groups that advocate racism.[3]
Online hate speech
In March 2019,
On 13 May 2020, the National Assembly was passed the legislation and would likely to go effect in 18 June.[6]
On 18 June 2020, the French Constitutional Council struck down core provisions of the law.[6]
Selected cases
In 1984, a judge of first instance prohibited a poster that advertised the film Ave Maria by Jacques Richard. The poster showed a young woman, covered only at the waist, with her arms and feet tied to a cross.[1] No appeal was made.
In 1985, three organizations asked a court in Paris to ban the film
In 1988, a court refused to ban the film The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese. Several organizations argued that the film insulted Christians, but the trial judge allowed the film to be shown if it contained the warning—and if its advertising contained the warning—that the film was not an adaptation of the Bible.
In 1989, a court in Paris refused to ban the novel The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie for being an insult to Muslims because the novel was not forced on anyone.[1]
In 1994, the newspaper Le quotidien de Paris published the article L'obscurité de l'erreur by journalist, sociologist, and historian Paul Giniewski. The article was a reaction to the publication of the papal encyclical
In 1997, a Christian organization asked for the removal of a poster which advertised the film
In 1998, a Christian organization asked to ban caricatures published by the satirical magazine La Grosse Bertha. One of its covers represented the Christ dying with the inscription: I suck (in French, "je suçe", which pronounces similarly to "Jesus") was his name by Robert Obscene and Alain Porno from the Acadébite (a play on the words Academy and penis), on inside page a cartoon with the Christ saying Why have you forsaken Me Jerk? and the apostles at the foot of the cross carrying banners: pension forced to 33 years, Job insecurity, in back page, a drawing titled miscellaneous news item illustrated with a disemboweled slept naked woman a crucifix crashed in the vagina and on another cover under the title: the Pope at the transvestites, a drawing representing Pope John-Paul II sodomized by a transvestite who exclaims: welcome to Brazil. The courts of first instance and appeal decided that they didn't constitute an incitement to hatred towards the Catholics. The Supreme Court of Appeal held that the first court of appeal had made a procedural error, and referred the matter back to another court which confirmed the absence of conviction decided by the lower courts and considered that mockery of the Catholic religion, the faiths, the symbols and the rites of the religious practice had not caused any state of mind for incitement to discrimination, hatred or violence and was no justification to restrict the liberty of the press.[7]
In 2002, a Christian organization asked for the removal of a poster which advertised the film Amen by
In 2002, a court in Paris considered a complaint by several civil-rights organizations about a remark by Michel Houellebecq, the author of the novel Platforme. During an interview, Houellebecq remarked that Islam is "the stupidest religion." The court decided the remark could neither be considered a racial insult to Muslims nor an incitement to religious or racial hatred.[1][8]
In 2002, several civil-rights organizations initiated civil and criminal proceedings against Oriana Fallaci and her publisher for the novel La Rage et l'Orgueil. The organizations argued that the novel insulted Arabs, Muslims, and Islam, and incited discrimination, hatred, and violence on religious and racial grounds. The legal proceedings foundered for procedural reasons.[1]
In March 2005,
On 25 April 2005, the daily newspaper Libération published a depiction of
In 2005, the organization Aides Haute-Garonne organized La nuit de la Sainte-Capote (the night of the Holy Condom), an informative evening about the prevention of the
In 2006, the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo released a special issue which featured cartoons pertinent to Islam, including some from the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. A Muslim organization initiated criminal proceedings against Philippe Val, editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo, for insulting a group of people because of their religion. In March 2007, the court of first instance acquitted Val. The first court of appeal confirmed the lower court's judgment on the ground that the cartoons targeted only terrorists or fundamentalists—not the whole Muslim community.[1][9][11]
On 18 January 2007, a tribunal in Lyon sentenced Bruno Gollnisch to a three-month, suspended prison-term and a fine of €5,000 for the offense of contesting information about the Holocaust. The court also ordered him to pay €55,000 in damages to the plaintiffs and to pay for the judgment to be published in the newspapers that originally printed his remarks.[12][13]
In 2007, the Supreme Court of Appeal considered a remark by a comedian during an interview published in the journal Lyon Capitale. The comedian said that "Jews are a sect, a fraud". The court said the remark was an insult to a group defined by their place of origin.[1][14]
In 2008, legendary French actress
In 2013 Bob Dylan was placed under judicial investigation in France for allegedly provoking ethnic hatred of Croats. It followed a legal complaint lodged by a Croat association in France over a 2012 interview Dylan gave to Rolling Stone magazine. [16] In April 2014, the case against Dylan himself was dropped, but the director of Rolling Stone's French edition was ordered to stand trial.[17]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Janssen, Esther (2009). "Limits to expression on religion in France" (PDF). Agama & Religiusitas di Eropa, Journal of European Studies, Volume V - nr. 1, 2009, pp. 22–45. Produced in cooperation between the University of Indonesia and the Delegation of the European Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ a b Décret no 2005-284 du 25 mars 2005 relatif aux contraventions de diffamation, d'injure et de provocation non publiques à caractère discriminatoire et à la compétence du tribunal de police et de la juridiction de proximité (in French)
- ^ Loi no 72-546 du 1 juillet 1972 relative à la lutte contre le racisme (in French).
- ^ "France's law on hate speech gets a thumbs down". EDRi. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
- ^ "France: Analysis of draft hate speech bill". Article 19. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
- ^ a b "What's Going on With France's Online Hate Speech Law?". Lawfare. 23 June 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ Cour d'appel de Versailles, 18 March 1998, N° 1996-2195, on legifrance.gouv.fr.
- ^ "Houellebecq Acquitted of Insulting Islam". Archived from the original on 4 July 2009. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
- ^ a b Viscusi, Gregory (22 March 2007). "French Magazine Is Cleared Over Muhammad Cartoons (Update2)". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- ^ Marithé & François Girbaud: Last supper
- ^ JURIST - Paper Chase: France newspaper cleared of defamation for Muhammad cartoons republication
- ^ Mahony, Honor (19 January 2007). "French far-right MEP fined for Holocaust remarks". euobserver.com. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
- ^ See the French Wikipedia article Affaire des propos de Bruno Gollnisch d'octobre 2004.
- ^ Affaire des propos de Y, Cour de cassation, Assemblée plénière, 16 February 2007, N° 06-81785, on legifrance.gouv.fr.
- ^ Crumley, Bruce (15 April 2008). "Is Brigitte Bardot Bashing Islam?". Time. Archived from the original on 16 April 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
- ^ Bob Dylan faces French legal inquiry over Croat remarks.
- ^ "French court drops 'hate speech' case against Bob Dylan". France 24. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2015.